“As a rout in energy prices spreads to global equities, investors are returning to gold to take cover,” begins a Bloomberg article about how assets in GLD, the world’s largest gold-backed ETF, rose on Wednesday “at the fastest pace since July. The holdings are up almost 1 percent in December, snapping four straight months of losses.” Spot gold and silver did however end marginally lower on Thursday, falling about one-fifth of a percent following what was described as an“upbeat”retail-sales report But following that release, notes Reuters, “data showed the net worth of U.S. households fell in the third quarter for the first time in three years, hit by a fall in the value of their stock holdings and rising debts, giving mixed signals on the outlook for consumer spending.”

The metals moved a mere 0.2% on Wednesday, with spot silver ending up and gold down. “The weak oil prices sapped some of the strength out of the gold market,” according to HSBC analyst James Steel, but “weak equities and the stronger euro were positive, and that kept the losses to a minimum.” And while both metals consolidated recent gains, Arabian Money‘s Peter Cooper suggests that “The recent sell-off in precious metals seems to be over with a massive increase in long positions in the Comex powering prices to the upside.” And asking, “What could sustain a precious metals rally this time?,” he predicts “a flight to safety as other asset markets break down. Whether you look at bonds or equities they have a definite sense of vertigo at these levels.”

Spot silver and gold gained slightly more than 4% and 2% on Tuesday, while futures surged 5.3% and 3.1%, “as the dollar headed for the biggest drop in a month against a basket of 10 currencies,” reports Bloomberg, adding that “More than $100 billion was wiped from the value of world equity markets yesterday, and global shares are falling again today.”

After the November non-farm payrolls report showed a gain of 321,000 jobs, spot silver and gold came off lows on Friday to end the day down 0.9% and 1.2% respectively, reports Reuters, quoting one analyst as saying, “It will be interesting to see how (gold) develops as we move towards the FOMC meeting on Dec. 17.” He predicts that “If we have a more hawkish Fed, more of an adjustment in interest rate expectations, and a still higher dollar,” it will be negative for gold. Given those prospects, a Mining.com report concludes that “the damage may have been greater” for gold and silver on Friday, but argues that both were spared larger losses because they have “run out of big sellers.” And despite Friday’s downturn, silver and gold still ended up 5.5% and 2.1% on the week.

After falling off in early trading, spot gold and silver soared to end up 4.2% and 6.9% respectively on Monday, reports Reuters, attributing the gains to “the surging oil market, technical buy signals and potential for increased Indian imports… The rally followed a thinly traded move lower, viewed by traders as overdone, after Switzerland voted on Sunday against a proposal to boost its gold reserves.” MarketWatch adds a dollar retreat and a downgrade in Japan’s sovereign debt rating to the list.

While Reuters pegs Tuesday’s gains in gold and silver to a falling dollar, a Bloomberg article headlines Russia adding to its gold reserves as a major factor in gold topping $1,200 an ounce on its way to a two-week high. “The fact that Russia is buying more gold instead of diversifying into another currency or buying more dollars is a big positive,” said one trader, in response to a report that Russia has purchased about 150 tonnes of gold so far this year, almost twice its 2013 buy, including 35 tonnes since the end of September.

But in Ukraine, according to a Zero Hedge post, the head of the country’s central bank said during a TV interview that “in the vaults of the central bank there is almost no gold left,” adding that there’s “a small amount of gold bullion left, but it’s just 1% of reserves.” Earlier this year the IMF put Ukraine’s gold holdings at 42.3 tonnes, or 8% of total reserves. Zero Hedge concludes: “now that the disappearance of Ukraine’s gold has been confirmed, perhaps it is time to refresh the “unconfirmed” story that a little after the current Ukraine regime took power the bulk of Ukraine’s gold was taken to the United States.”

Although spot gold and silver ended off 0.1% and 0.7% respectively on Monday, as the dollar rose on news overnight, that Japan fell into arecession, more than a million Silver Eagles were sold on the first day the coins were available since going dark almost two weeks ago. “At 40,393,000 coins sold in 2014 so far,” reports Coin News, “there is now just one stronger year in the Silver Eagle’s 29-year history — 2013 at 42,675,000 coins.”

And an argument that silver is showing “Signs of Life,” suggests that despite the “demoralizing” price action since July, recent technical and fundamental activity “could be screaming at us that this is about to change. Increasing physical demand highlighted by a lack of availability of and rising premiums for silver coins and bars coupled with an extension and overbought condition in the gold-silver ratio is significant. Add to that a pair of bullish key-reversal days on consecutive Fridays validated by the same action in gold.”

As it’s argued that the silver bears are running out of steam, or already have, but with the gold/silver ratio still above 74 as of Wednesday, Numismaster‘s Patrick Heller raises the prospect of swapping your gold for silver. He points out that the ratio “has been in the 50s much of the time over the past few years,” and he expects “a long-term equilibrium to hit somewhere around 35:1 to 40:1 between the two metals.” That said, Heller presents a number of well thought-out factors to consider, and comes down on the side of “a definite maybe,” depending on the circumstances of the trade and your current holdings. And he concludes by emphasizing that the swapping question “is different than asking if one should own any precious metals at all. A decision to own physical gold or silver is what I think of as buyinginsurance against the risk of calamities with paper assets such as stocks, bonds and currencies.”

Silver and gold futures inched up and down respectively on Monday, with the market said to be in “a wait-and-watch mode” ahead of this week’s FOMC meeting. One reason that gold “came under pressure” on Monday, reports Reuters, was “a sharp pullback in crude oil after Goldman Sachs slashed its price forecasts, citing lackluster global demand.” But it was also “underpinned” by China’s net gold imports from Hong Kong hitting a five-month high in September. This as the Times of India reports that annual Swiss gold exports to India have hit a record high level in advance of Switzerland’s gold referendum on November 30.